Fixing the Unbroken
by everlovingdeer
Summary: "You have to believe me," I murmured quietly, unable to meet his eyes, "that was never my intention. I never wanted to hurt you." "Maybe it wasn't your intention," he accepted after a moment.
1. Fixing the Unbroken

Sometimes I wondered how some people just weren't stressing out about our upcoming N.E.W.T exams. We were only a few weeks away from them and yet some of my friends just didn't seem to care about it. "What about you, Hearth?" Akira Horton asked, looping her arm through mine as we walked towards our Potions classroom. "Have you got time after class today?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted, thinking for a moment, "What have you got planned?"

"We were going to sneak some food out of the kitchens and chill out," Faith called out from behind us where she was walking arm in arm with Ingrid.

"Oh, please Stafford," Ingrid said with a roll of her eyes, "You're saying that like you're going to be one of the people that sneak into the kitchens. Everyone knows that you're too much of a coward to even try it."

"Shove off, Allen," Faith hissed, pushing away from Ingrid.

"Hearth," Ingrid said as she quickened her steps to fall into line with me and Akira. "Aren't you supposed to be meeting Weasley after class?"

"Oh, that's right," I said suddenly remembering that I'd promised my boyfriend that I'd meet him in the library. "You'll have to count me out guys."

Akira made a face, pulling away from me and turning to Faith who had caught up to us. I didn't bother commenting on the blatant dislike that some of my friends had for my boyfriend. Akira and Faith seemed to have an issue with Percy and I did my best to remain oblivious to it.

"I still don't know why you haven't ditched him yet," Faith grumbled. "He's so bloody boring."

"To you, maybe," I muttered as we drew closer to the potions classroom.

"To everyone," Faith said loudly and I didn't bother to rise to her bait.

Instead, I rolled my eyes and asked, "Can't we just move on to a different conversation?"

"How long have you been dating him?" Akira wondered.

"Over a year," Ingrid supplied, nudging me with her shoulder when she realised I was growing annoyed.

There was always one topic that could make even the most calm person annoyed. That topic, in my case was my apparently boring boyfriend. And I certainly wasn't the most calm and rational person so it was ridiculously easy for me to become wound up.

I gave Ingrid a reassuring smile, throwing a glance at Akira when she snickered, "That's 12 months too long."

"Seriously," Faith added, "where's the passion in your relationship? The –"

"Look," I said finally, stopping in my step and turning to face Faith. "Not everyone is like you. We don't all like getting it on in the middle of the school corridor for the entire castle to see."

Ignoring the offended gasp I heard Faith give in response to my words, I brushed past her and walked into the potions classroom. Upon entering the room, I looked to my usual seat and smiled at the boy already waiting for me. Salazar, just looking at him had the tension easing out of me. Letting out a big breath, I managed to regain my composure.

Crossing the room, I settled into my seat and watched as Percy turned to me with a smile. My own smile grew wider at the sight of his. Akira and Faith had no idea what they were talking about; not all relationships needed to be exciting all the time. There were different ways of showing passion and they didn't need to judge Percy because of the way he showed his.

So what if he wasn't one for the big and obvious displays of affection? The comfort that I got from him was more than enough. Not that I'd ever told anyone, but being with Percy had opened my eyes to the simple happiness you could get from someone simply reaching out to take your hand. And, until I had started dating him I didn't realise how much those things could mean to me.

As the lesson began, Percy reached out to put his hand on top of mine where it was resting idly on the table top. His eyes didn't leave the front of the classroom as he threaded our fingers together and I felt my heart begin to beat just a little faster in my chest. Almost a year on and he still had this effect on me.

This was enough; _he_ was enough.

And yet I couldn't stop the words from ringing in my head.

* * *

It wasn't often that Percy used his influence as head boy to make something work in his favour. But when he did, it was for little things like fixing the prefects rounds schedule so that we had rounds together. Even then, he made sure that whilst we had _most_ of our rounds together, we didn't have them _all_ together, lest someone accuse him of favouring me over the rest of the prefects or worse, accuse him of abusing his power. Really, he had nothing to worry about because people didn't particularly care about those sorts of things but he didn't listen. It was obvious that Percy cared more about the way others saw him, than he would admit.

It was a quiet night with next to no students to be found sneaking out past curfew and yet Percy was on the lookout. We walked, hand in hand, down the corridor when he suddenly dropped my hand. Glancing curiously at Percy, I watched him walk away from me and towards a pair of Gryffindor third years who had the bad luck of getting caught whilst sneaking around.

"Hurry back to the common room," Percy ordered firmly, standing in front of the third years who were shuffling on their feet, uncomfortable under his stare. "I'm taking 10 points from each of you so you'd better learn your lesson about sneaking around. You don't want to lose the house more points in the future, now do you?"

And as his lecturing came to an end, the third years walked past him and hurried to their common room. As they walked around me I heard them complaining under their breath about Percy's lack of house loyalty and how the last Gryffindor head boy had turned a blind eye to any Gryffindors that he caught sneaking around.

Walking again to Percy's side, I found myself lost in my thoughts. So what, if Percy happened to be a little strict sometimes. There was nothing wrong with that. He was the head boy so why was there an issue with him sticking to the rules – maybe even when he shouldn't.

Percy, realising that I was lost in my thoughts, took my hand in his. Startled, I looked up at him in surprise and met his waiting eyes. "Is everything alright?"

I nodded slowly, giving him a reassuring smile. "We should probably complete the rest of our rounds or else we'll have to the other prefects complain about changing shifts late."

"You're right," he agreed, blue eyes shining behind his horn-rimmed glasses.

"Percy," I called out tentatively once we had begun walking again. He hummed curiously, peering down at me for a moment. I bit my bottom lip hesitantly, "Have you ever considered getting rid of your glasses?"

"My glasses?" he repeated, bringing a hand up to touch them self-consciously.

I hurried to explain myself. "They hide your eyes. And there's just so many alternatives that are available now. Maybe you should consider them?"

He glanced away from me for a moment before nodding shortly, "I'll look into it."

Once our rounds were completed, Percy walked me back to my common room and the entire time he had been quieter than he usually was. He had clammed up since I mentioned the glasses. Salazar, _why_ did I have to mention the glasses? I'd never even had an issue with his glasses before. So why had I even brought it up in the first place. Merlin's great baggy –

"We're here," he called out quietly, making me come out of my thoughts. I looked around and sure enough, we had reached the entrance to the common room.

"Thanks for walking me," I said with a smile, turning to face Percy who'd tucked his hands into his pocket.

"It was my pleasure," he assured me, stepped towards me to kiss my cheek. He straightened up and asked, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"We promised we'd meet in the library," I reminded him before gesturing for him to leave, "Now hurry and get back to your common room."

I watched him walk away and disappear around the corner before I entered the common room. Stepping into the room, my eyes instantly went to 'our' sofa where my friends were seated, talking loudly to each other. Crossing the room, I waved to them when they spotted me.

"How were your rounds?" Ingrid asked, as I drew closer.

"Long," I said with a sigh.

"Of course they were," Faith rolled her eyes, "You had rounds with the his royal bore."

Akira nudged Faith, "I bet he even takes points from his own house." The pair of them cackled, looking to me for an answer as I stood in front of the sofa. "Well, does he?"

With a sigh I turned towards the dorms. "I'm feeling tired. I think I'm going to call it a night."

* * *

The next day I met Percy in the library as I had promised. The hours that we'd spent sitting side by side in this library were countless. Merlin, it was during one of our study sessions that he'd plucked up the courage to ask me to go on a date with him and I had been so flustered by his sudden words that I told him I needed time to think. The following day when I met him in the library I had accepted and that was that. From there we went on a date which escalated into another and another until we were officially dating.

Never before had I found this boring. Never had I found my attention slipping away from the books and yet, because of a few words I was suddenly doubting everything. I was doubting us.

Biting my lip cautiously I looked at Percy from over the top of my textbook. He hadn't noticed my gaze and instead focused on the words written in the book in front of him.

Clearing my throat, I asked, "Percy, don't you find this boring?"

He paused, quill poised over his parchment. Looking curiously at me, he raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"We spend hours on end in this same room, in the same seats, studying the same things." I shrugged helplessly under his eyes. "Just – don't you find it boring?"

He appraised me closely and I avoided his eyes, shuffling slightly under his stare. "Why are you suddenly bringing this up? We've studied together countless times but you've suddenly decided it's boring? Is something wrong?"

I shrugged, unable to think of the words to say and instead settled on mumbling, "I don't know."

Except I did know. I just didn't know how to tell him without hurting his feelings. Salazar, from the very moment they'd found out that I was dating Percy, most of my friends had mocked him and ridiculed me for dating a blood traitor. And yet I didn't let any of their words affect me because Percy was worth it. He treated me far better than any man in my life ever had, cared for me more than anyone had and Merlin, he made me feel special. All of that was enough for me.

And yet, somewhere along the line, something had changed. At some point the words that I used to be able to shrug off, were suddenly affecting me when they shouldn't have been.

There was no way that I was going to tell Percy any of this; I'd just end up hurting him.

"N.E. are less than two weeks away," Percy reminded me comfortingly, bumping his shoe against mine. "Is it the stress of the upcoming exams?"

"Maybe," I agreed half-heartedly. "N.E. are just around the corner but sometimes we need to take a break from revising so that it doesn't become too much and we don't find ourselves overwhelmed. Sometimes we just need to do something fun."

The words had Percy closing his book and finally giving me his attention. "Fun? Like what?"

"Why don't we go flying?" I suggested after a moment's thought.

He made a face, looking back to the front cover of his book. "Flying's not for me; you know that."

"Oh right." I did know that.

Reaching out to put a hand on my arm, Percy squeezed it gently, bringing my eyes back to his. "There's something going on isn't there? Something you don't want to tell me? Whatever it is, you can say it – especially since it seems to be making you so withdrawn."

"It's nothing," I assured him again, licking my bottom lip and turning back to my revision.

"Something's wrong," Percy said quietly again. "Whenever you're ready to tell me what it is, I'm hear with open ears and open arms."

"Thanks for the offer Perce," I said with a small smile, "But nothing's wrong."

Except something was very wrong. I was fine with my current boyfriend, Merlin I was sure I loved the man and yet I was spending a lot of my time trying to change him, to make him more likeable. But was that so wrong? Especially when it would only help him in the end?

* * *

The last Hogsmeade trip before our N.E. exam arrived and because I promised Percy that I would spend the day with him, I had informed my friends that they'd have to make do with spending the time at breakfast with me. And it wasn't long before they began to complain about Percy and how he was sucking me dry of my passion for anything 'fun'.

"Are you sure you'll be able to spend the entire day with him?" Akira asked over her plate, "Salazar, I wouldn't be able to stay with him for more than an hour."

"Well it's a good thing that he's my boyfriend and not yours then, isn't it?" I shot back before taking a sip of my tea.

"But seriously," Faith began, leaning across the table towards me, "How do you put up with it?"

"Oh, shove off," Ingrid snapped, helping herself to another slice of toast. "All you two seem to do is constantly try to tear Hearth and Weasley apart. Can you not see that she's perfectly happy with him?"

"But is she though?" Akira pointed out, "We all know about the changes she's tried to make with him. If she was so happy with him then why would she keep trying to change him. Where's your answer to _that_ Allen?"

Ingrid looked to me with mild accusation in her eyes and I shuffled uncomfortably. I couldn't even deny it because it was true. She sighed beside me, turning away from me and concentrating back on her breakfast. The silence didn't last long. Not when someone cleared their throat behind me.

I turned in my seat, eyes widening fractionally when I saw Percy standing behind me, clearly waiting. Sharing a look with the other three girls I tried to figure out how long he'd been standing there and just how much of our conversation he'd managed to hear. But from their expressions it was clear that they hadn't seen his approach either.

"Good morning," I greeted with a small smile, rubbing the back of my neck. "Have you had your breakfast yet?"

"Not yet," he said quietly, shaking his head. "I'm going to go back to the Gryffindor table in a moment. There was just something that I wanted you to see first."

"Something for me to see?" I questioned, looking to the envelope he was holding at his side.

Clearing his throat, Percy held out the envelope for me to take. Accepting the envelope, I turned it to the back and saw the broken ministry seal. I glanced cautiously in his direction, trying to see whether it was good or bad news but there was no expression on his face. Removing the letter from the envelope, I briefly skimmed over its contents. I read it again just to be sure.

And then I was rising to my feet and throwing myself at Percy. He stumbled back slightly from the force of my hug but he chuckled anyway, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me close to him. Holding him close to me, I grinned, nuzzling my face into his neck.

"Merlin Percy, congratulations," I said, pulling back to look him in the eyes. "The ministry accepted you – it's what you've always wanted to do."

"It's a conditional offer, based on the grades I get at the end of the year," he said self-consciously, "I'll have to wait and see whether I actually get the job."

"Of course you will," I assured him, cupping his face in my hands. "Merlin Percy, I know you'll do it."

He finally allowed himself to smile as he pulled away from me. I watched as he retrieved another parcel from his pocket, one that he'd shrunk. He pressed his wand to the parcel, returning it back to its usual size and held it out for me to take. "Here."

Taking the brown paper wrapped parcel, I began to unwrap it. Glancing briefly at him, I asked, "What is it?"

He didn't answer me and instead I looked back to the parcel which now fully unwrapped revealed the latest edition of a book I'd been wanting for weeks now. I looked to Percy in surprise; I knew of his family's financial situation – who didn't – and yet he still managed to buy me this limited edition –

"You were eyeing it up the last time we went to Hogsmeade together," he explained quietly, "It was out of stock so it had to be ordered in. I thought you wanted to read it, so I just –"

"How did you know?" I asked, amazed after he trailed off. "I never told you?"

"You didn't need to," he said with a shrug.

And then I didn't care that we were in the middle of the great hall, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him down so I could kiss him properly. Someone, I was convinced it was one of his younger brothers, let out a round of wolf whistles and I pulled away from Percy who had turned an extremely bright shade of red. He blinked at me in surprised and I giggled.

"You, Percy Weasley, are _far_ too good for me." He looked like he was going to disagree with my words so I didn't let him and I kissed him again. What did it matter if no one else could see what I saw in him?

He was only mine, anyway.

Once we had finished our breakfast, we made our way down to Hogsmeade and I soon broke away from my friends to meet Percy in the Three Broomsticks. By the time I entered the pub I found Percy sitting at one of the corner tables with butterbeer waiting for me.

"Sorry I'm late," I apologised, settling into the seat across from him. "I hope you weren't waiting long?"

"Not long," he reassured me with a slightly troubled smile.

I studied him from over the rim of my glass. There was something wrong, something that he wasn't willing to share. Or maybe this was the stress of the upcoming N.E.W.T exams? As long as I'd known him he hadn't always been able to deal with his stress well. But I'd assumed that he had gotten a lot better at dealing with the stress; he certainly wasn't behaving the way he had when we'd sat our O. .

"Percy," I called out gently, pushing my glass aside slightly so I could reach across the table to take his hand. He hesitated for a moment before turning his hand around from beneath mine to link our fingers together. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

He nodded slowly, looking to the table top for a moment. After swallowing thickly, he looked up at me again and met my waiting eyes. "We can't –"

"We can't what?" I prompted when he trailed off.

Percy let out a deep sigh, taking a large sip of his butterbeer before he spoke again. "We can't keep dating if you're ashamed of me. Surely, you know that?"

"But I'm not ashamed of you?" I protested, shaking my head. "Honestly Percy, where did you get that idea from?"

"Does that matter?" His hand tightened in mine for a moment and I felt my heart begin to plummet. This wasn't supposed to happen –

"Perce –"

"I know that you've been trying to change me," he admitted, "And I know that you're doing it to get me to become someone that your friends would be more likely to accept."

"That's not it," I cut in desperately. "Really, Percy, you have to believe me. That's not it."

"Isn't it?" he raised an eyebrow. I remained silent under his accusatory eyes. Merlin, it was the truth so what was the point in trying to deny it. Percy sighed again, "Listen, I don't know why you've decided that you needed to change me but before any of this, wasn't I enough?"

"Of course you were," I answered, growing more upset as he went on. Percy, as always, maintained his composure and I took in a deep breath to steady myself. My eyes fell to the table top as I was left to wonder just where things had gone wrong. At what point had I suddenly listened to words that I'd previously found ridiculous?

Growing tired of the silence, Percy was the first to break it. "I'm not some toy for you to take and fix just so you can keep the improved version. That's not fair."

"You have to believe me," I murmured quietly, unable to meet his eyes, "that was never my intention. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Maybe it wasn't your intention," he accepted after a moment, running a distressed hand through his hair. "But it happened anyway. Growing up I knew that I wasn't enough – some people even wondered how I was a Weasley when I was so different, so … boring. Merlin, even at home my family's constantly teasing me about being boring and stuck up. Anything I want to do is ridiculed for being so – stiff and that's why I liked you. Because you were never like that to me, you understood and accepted that I wasn't going to be this amazingly interest guy and you were alright with that. At least, I thought you were."

"I was Percy, I _am._ "

"You've just changed," he said after a moment, going to pull his hand out from beneath mine. "And I don't think I like it."

"Just please, give me a chance to explain," I said after a moment. Letting out a shuddering breath, I raised my eyes to his, "That's all I ask."

"Fine." He leaned back in his seat. "Go ahead and explain."

But I couldn't, because there wasn't an explanation that wouldn't hurt him. He was right, I had been trying to change him into someone that he wasn't. And I wasn't doing it for his own good. I just didn't want to keep being teased for having such a boring boyfriend. In doing so, I'd hurt him.

When it became obvious that I had no explanation, he rose from his seat. "I think it's time we split up."

My eyes were glued to my mug as he left and I didn't bother to watch him leave. Only when I heard the pub door close behind him did I let out another shuddering breath. No matter how hard I tried to blink the tears away, it didn't work and they were soon threatening to spill over. Burrowing my face in my hands, I took a moment to steady myself.

Salazar's soul, where had things gone so very wrong?

* * *

How was it possible for someone's behaviour to change so much? The same man who made sure to spend some part of his days with me had now made it his goal to avoid me. Forget speaking to Percy, I hadn't even managed to catch a glimpse of him since that day in Hogsmeade. What a coward. Because he _was_ being a coward by choosing not to have to see me over having to face me and listen to whatever I had to say. Merlin, it was so frustrating.

After returning from Hogsmeade I had immediately confessed everything to my friends when they'd questioned me on why my eyes were so red. Their responses weren't what I had been expecting. Akira had gone as far as offering to throw a party in the common room to celebrate my new-found freedom and Ingrid had been the only sane one. She, out of the 3 of them, understood my feelings the best and had dealt with Akira and Faith when it became obvious that I was close to blowing my top.

The only time that I had seen Percy after our break up was in the exam hall and even then, I had more important things to worry about than how I was going to get him to talk to me again. After our potions exam, the last exam we would be in the same hall for, I had approached him with the intention of trying to get a conversation going. But he hadn't paid me much heed. He had simply continued talking to Wood and the pair of them walked right past me.

The rest of the 7th years in our potions class had begun to murmur to themselves about how cold Percy was being towards me and I felt the bigger sting of humiliation. My eyes began to prick with tears as I realised that this very well could have been it. Letting out a deep breath, I tossed my hair back and walked determinedly to the common room, maintaining the pretence of composure.

Only when I was safely in my dorm did I let the façade drop. My shoulders slumped and I sniffled slightly to stop the tears falling. I wasn't going to shed another tear over Percy Weasley. And yet, they still fell.

Wiping the tears away with the back of my hand, I hurried to my bed and threw myself face first down on it. There was the sound of footsteps and then my mattress dipped. Peeking up from the safety of my blanket, I met Ingrid's eyes before hiding myself away again.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, running a hand over my hair.

"He won't even _look_ at me," I confessed, words muffled.

"Do you know what you need to do?" Faith began from where she was sat on her bed. I peeked up curiously.

"What?"

"You need to get over it," she said with a roll of her eyes. I sighed, flipping onto my back. Salazar, what had I even been expecting?

"There are other boys out there," Akira pointed out, flicking through her notes as she did some last-minute revision on Faith's bed. "You really don't need to be so worked up over someone so beneath you. Merlin, if I were you, I would've ditched that boring, blood traitor –"

"Shut up!" I snapped, sitting up to glare in her direction. "I am sick and tired of the pair of you _constantly_ putting Percy down. Salazar's soul, what did he ever do to either of you?"

"She's just saying that if she were you she wouldn't have dated him in the first place," Faith said defensively, not seeing the way Ingrid reached out to place a steadying hand on my knee when I clenched my jaw. "Neither would I for that matter."

"Well you're not me," I said bluntly. "We're not the same people, we don't like the same type of guys and I would sooner go celibate than to have your taste in guys."

"You're going too far –"

"Have either of you dated a guy who only sees you? Who doesn't so much as glance at other girls?" I raised an eyebrow. "Merlin, you guys date the most _exciting_ guys and yet we all know that they're really twats who have a problem with keeping their dick in their pants. They cheat on you the moment your back is turned and the only reason they date you is because their parents would approve. They don't give a fuck about you and Percy – merlin's beard – Percy wasn't like that. He was genuine, and sweet and he loved me."

Even still, Faith and Akira shared a glance but I didn't pay it any notice. Instead, I realised with startling clarity just how true my words were. Letting out a long breath, I rubbed a hand over my face and spoke quietly.

"So what if he doesn't have the same interests as most of the boys in our year, I never once thought he was boring. He loved me because I was me and I loved – love him because I didn't need to work for his love, or his affection. Merlin, that's what we've been taught to do since we were little; we need to work for someone's love and we need to prove ourselves worthy of it. He was the first person to show me that I didn't need to _earn_ someone's love, that I was worthy of being loved regardless."

"It's going to be ok," Ingrid assured me, slipping an arm around my shoulder and hugging me from the side.

"No, it's not," I whispered as a single tear raced down my cheek. I looked to Ingrid who was watching me with sympathetic eyes. She squeezed my shoulder and I sniffled, "It's not going to be ok Ing. I hurt him so badly. What am I going to do?"

"Well you know what you need to do, don't you?" she asked as I burrowed my head on her shoulder. I shook my head and she sighed, rubbing my back, "First things first, you need to apologise."

"How? He won't even talk to me."

"You have to keep trying."

"And if he doesn't?"

"He will," she assured me confidently. "Despite it all, he's mad for you – you just need to see the way he looks at you."

* * *

I decided that it was time for me to take Ingrid's words to heart. I realised that she had been right; even though I continued to try to talk to him, I had yet to apologise for what I had done and I needed to rectify that immediately. But, if Percy was going to continue to go out of his way to avoid me, then I'd have to make it so that he had no choice but to be around me. And to do that, I'd need to go to the head girl.

When it was time for Percy to go on his rounds, I stood outside the Gryffindor common room and waited for him to walk out. I didn't have to wait long for him to emerge from the room. When he did, he stopped still at the sight of me. I fidgeted nervously, looking away from him.

"We've got rounds together," I explained, glancing back to him to see that he was slowly making his way back to my side.

"I thought I was supposed to be doing rounds with the head girl," he said finally, repeatedly tightening and relaxing his grip on his wand.

"I went to go see her," I admitted, licking my bottom lip. "I asked her to swap rounds partners with me."

Percy nodded looking away from me and with that, he was off and walking down the corridor. I stared after him in surprise for a moment before rushing to catch up to him. We walked in silence for a while and I grew aware of the looks he kept sending me from the corner of his eye.

"Can we talk?" I asked and silence was his only answer. Deciding to interpret his silence positively, I began to speak. But I couldn't look at him, not yet. "Merlin, I'm sorry Percy. I'm sorry for trying to change you and making you feel inferior. I'm sorry that because of my actions we had to break up."

Again, silence was his only answer. I looked to him then, my eyes lingering on the tight grip he had on his wand. His knuckles had turned white and I hesitated, biting my bottom lip. What if Ingrid had been wrong and he didn't want to hear any of this? What if this was only driving him further away from me? There would be no way of knowing unless he actually spoke to me. But he seemed to have decided against doing that.

For now, I needed to get everything off my chest.

"I know it was wrong of me to try and change you Percy," I admitted into the silence. "I shouldn't have tried it in the first place. Merlin, you're perfect the way you are and I –"

He stopped suddenly in his steps, reaching out to cover my mouth with his palm. I stared up at him in surprise, unsure of how to progress. He looked down at me from behind those ridiculous glasses that were just _him_ – how could I ever have wanted him to get rid of them?

"You're rambling," he said gently with a small, insecure smile. Salazar, that smile was enough to have hope blooming in my chest. He let out small breath before admitting, "These last few weeks of ignoring you and avoiding you and pretending you mean nothing to me – Godric, they've been hell for me."

"For me too," I said, my words smothered by his hand.

Percy, realising he was still covering my mouth, dropped his hand with a sheepish smile. He rubbed the back of his neck as we turned to carry on with our rounds. It was only a few steps later when my impatience got the better of me.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, glancing curiously at him.

"We can try again?" he suggested hesitantly.

I grinned, the wave of relief that swept through me was overwhelming. "I'd like that and I promise that I won't try to change you again. You don't need to change."

"Maybe I do," he answered seriously, reaching out to take my hand in his. "It's only fair that we spend some time doing what you enjoy too. Even if that means we spend less time in the library and end up going flying more often."

"You're being serious?" I asked with barely concealed doubt.

Percy looked to me with a smile, nodding. "Completely."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed quietly.

We both shared a smile, looking away to carry on with our rounds, our hands swinging between us.


	2. Epilogue: 5 Years Later

_5 YEARS LATER_

In the aftermath of the battle we had all relocated to the Burrow to try and escape the castle which had suddenly become stifling. The remnants of the castle surrounded the survivors and we, after having helped recover some of the fallen, had returned to the Burrow. It was a unanimous decision for everyone to spend the night at the Burrow because it was obvious that Mrs Weasley needed to be surrounded by her family. She needed to be able to reassure herself that we were all still here.

Percy, when the night had fallen, had taken my hand and retired to his old bedroom. When we reached the room, he curled up on his bed, nuzzling his head in my lap. It was only within the walls of his old room that he allowed tears to fall for his fallen brother and fallen friends. He muffled the sound of his sobs against my thigh and I ran a soothing hand through his hair in an attempt to comfort him.

He would never mention to anyone just how guilty he felt for abandoning his family in favour for chasing after success and I knew that he would carry it in his heart, even if the rest of his family had forgiven him. He had even given up his job at the Ministry, the one thing he'd spent his life chasing after and perhaps no one would ever know how much courage it took for him to do that, to turn his back on the one thing he'd spent _years_ working towards.

At some point Percy had cried himself to sleep and I leaned my back against the headboard, brushing the hair out of his face. The battle had been rough for all of us but Percy had been right by Fred's side when he –

The bedroom door was pushed open and I looked to the door where Mrs Weasley popped her in. Upon seeing me awake she hesitated in the doorway before finally making up her mind to walk into the room. Crossing the room, the older woman perched on the edge of the bed and brushed a hand over Percy's head. Her eyes began to water slightly and she sniffed the tears away. I shuffled a little awkwardly before reaching out to put a comforting hand on top of hers.

"Thank you," she said suddenly, voice quiet as she took my hand between both of hers.

"For what?" I asked just as quietly, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

"For bringing him back to me, to us."

"It was all his decision," I protested, looking down to Percy as he continued to slumber in peace. "It was his choice."

Mrs Weasley nodded, accepting my words. She rose to her feet and stared down at me for a moment.

"You should get some sleep too," she murmured, "I'm going to go and check on everyone."

"Goodnight Mrs Weasley," I called out to her back as she walked to the door.

"Goodnight," she returned, shutting the door behind her.

The moment the bedroom door was shut, Percy opened his eyes slowly. Straightening up, he rubbed at his eyes tiredly and smothered a yawn against his palm.

"When did you wake up?" I asked, watching as he lied down on his pillow.

Eyes closed, Percy patted the space beside him and gestured for me to lie with him. "The moment mum walked into the room."

"And you pretended to be asleep because?" He opened his arms, motioning for me to come into them and I did with a sigh.

Percy held me close to him, breathing deeply. After a moment he admitted, "I'm not ready to go back to things being the way they were. I've done too much to –"

"One step at a time Percy," I advised, closing my own eyes and burrowing into his chest. "One step at a time."

"I don't know what to do now," he admitted after a while. "I want to help my parents, my family to deal with our loss but I have no idea of what to do now."

"I was thinking," I murmured hesitantly, making him draw back from me a little. I opened my eyes to see him looking down at me. "Why don't you stay here for a few days before returning to your apartment? I don't think your parents are ready to let you go yet and it'll probably be good for them to have you around for a little longer."

He nodded after a moment's thought. "But only if you stay with me. I don't think I'm ready to do this on my own. Not yet, anyway."

"I don't know," I drew the words out hesitantly.

He lowered his head to mine, pressing his forehead against my own. "Please?"

"Fine," I relented. "I just hope you realise how awkward this is going to be for me."


End file.
